Joe Hockey will hold up New South Wales as an example of how to expand an economy through infrastructure projects when he meets his international counterparts this weekend.

The federal treasurer will host the G20 finance ministers and central bankers’ meeting in Sydney, the first gathering of the forum under Australia’s 2014 presidency.

“The decisions that are made this weekend, together with decisions that will be made over the next 12 months under the leadership of Australia will have an impact on the global economy,” Hockey told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

In a joint media conference with NSW treasurer Mike Baird, Hockey praised the state’s privatisation of Port Botany and Port Kembla for $5bn to raise funds for investment in new assets such as the WestConnex motorway. The state also hopes to raise $1.7bn by selling the country’s biggest power generator, Macquarie Generation, to AGL Energy.

“The sales of ports with the proceeds going into new road infrastructure is a benchmark for the rest of Australia and arguably many countries around the world,” he said.

“I’ll be using that as a clear example with G20 finance ministers this weekend.”

He will attempt to negotiate a global growth target that is faster than the 3.7% to 4% forecast by the IMF.

“If we have a growth aspiration which is higher than that, and we lay down a pathway for individual countries to get there, then we’re going to create the jobs and get global trade going at level that we need in order help to increase prosperity and ultimately help us to pay down our deficit and our debts,” he told ABC radio.

The meeting this weekend will be attended by leading figures including Janet Yellen, the new chair of the US Federal Reserve, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and British chancellor George Osborne.

Hockey said he expected there to be a heated discussion around the Fed’s decision to start winding back its $85bn-a-month monetary stimulus program and its possible impact on economies around the world.